


Come On, It's Lovely Weather

by betsytheoven



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Minor Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann, Snow, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2015-12-04
Packaged: 2018-05-04 21:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5349146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betsytheoven/pseuds/betsytheoven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snow is... actually the worst, Bitty decides. It's cold, and turns to ice and turns Samwell into a frozen tundra.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come On, It's Lovely Weather

**Author's Note:**

> It is the month of winter and I am reminded of my annoyance with snow. I can't walk on solid ground, much less ice-crusted ground.

Snow is okay.

 

Bitty loved the look of snow. The crisp fields of pure unbroken white sparkles stretched across campus on the early walks over to Faber. The pine trees that lined the River Quad all suddenly appeared festive, and the whole world looked a little brighter.  His favorite thing to do during a snowstorm was to peek out the front Haus windows at night and watch the snow falling, each flake catching the light as it drifted under streetlamps.  

But honestly, Bitty decided that snow was his worst nightmare.

It was cold, and a nuisance and always managed to work its way into his boots. Bitty could never wear enough layers and good lord when the wind blew, his eyes watered something awful and he wanted nothing less than to show up to class with watery eyes and an unshakeable shiver.

All this is to say, Bitty hated Jack and his abnormal resistance to the terrifyingly low temperatures.

“It’s 28 degrees out, Bittle. You cannot honestly need three jackets.” Jack raised an eyebrow at Bitty’s marshmallow-esque appearance, but the smaller man just huffed.

“It is a frozen wasteland out there and I refuse to freeze to death.” he slipped on a beanie and a huge scarf, before pulling all three of his jackets’ hoods up over his head.

“Yeah, I know three students have turned into popsicles on the dangerous walk across campus.”

Bitty tried to turn to glare at Jack for the chirp, but he had too many layers, so he had to turn his whole body to face him. He could sort of see Jack suppressing a laugh if he tilted his head really far up so the hoods didn’t block his view.

“Come on, we’re going to be late.” Jack nudged Bitty towards the door.

The sidewalks had been shoveled, but large ice patches still littered the walkways through campus. Bitty somehow managed to slip on all of them.

“Thought you were an ice skater?” Jack smirked as he grabbed Bitty’s elbow to keep him from dropping onto the concrete.

Bitty rolled his eyes, “Laugh it up, Zimmermann. I still have all the notes for our class and we have a test next week!”

Jack smiled a bit, but ceased the chirping for a little while.

And that’s how the winter of Bitty’s sophomore year went. Jack walked with him to class, never failing to chirp him and Bitty slipped on patches of ice most days. Whenever the morning happened to greet them with flurries, they always ducked into Annie’s for a cup of warmth before class.

It was freezing, Bitty hated the frozen wasteland that Samwell became every winter, but... Jack smiled a bit more in the snow. He threw snowballs at Shitty’s head when he was walking ahead with Lardo, only to immediately start listening intently to Bitty. He tromped in from the snow at odd times in the afternoon with a faint smile on his face and a little bit of snow on his back.

Bitty could curl up inside and isolate himself to the kitchen, where the oven kept him warm and he was safe from the horrible draft that always swept down the hall and into the living room of the Haus whenever anyone opened the front door.

Winter meant a lot of shivering and slow walks to keep from ending up on your ass, but it meant Bitty got to see his friends be a bit more childish, full of laughter and reckless abandon.

**❄~❄~❄**

The first big snowfall of Bitty’s Junior year was some of the most fun he has ever had.

Some snow had fallen before winter break, but the first weekend of the spring semester brought almost a foot of snow practically overnight and Bitty resolutely stuck to the kitchen, sending Dex and Nursey out to retrieve butter.

While Bitty was mixing up some pie crust, he was able to see Chowder through the window, romping around like this was his first winter.

“Bitty!! You have to come out here, the snow is so squeaky!!” Chowder yelled from the frozen tundra.  
  


Bitty laughed and shook his head at the goalie with a smile. There was no way he was going to soak through his clothes because the snow made fun noises. Especially not when the alternative was cozying up next to the warm oven and drinking warm cider.

“Come on Bits! We have to go defend our honor against the lacrosse meatheads!” Holster yelled as he stormed out into the front yard.

Lord, living in the Haus was wonderful but sometimes he wondered if people would ever believe the shenanigans that go on within the poor old Haus.  Ransom stepped into the kitchen with a smirk and Bitty smiled and tried to shove mini pies at the defenceman to derail whatever the clearly dangerous thought was.

“Bitty, Bits, come on. Snow War 2k16 is happening!”

“Rans, I have a pie baking. Y’all go defend the sanctity of the hockey team, and I will reward y’all with warm pie in the warm Haus after everyone is thoroughly soaked to the bone.” Bitty smiled and turned back to his pie filling.

He heard Rans sigh softly before he said, “Fine, fine, that’s cool bro. Can I have a hug in case we don’t come back from the war?”

Bitty turned around and rolled his eyes and Rans, who was staring back at him with puppy-dog eyes. He smiled with a roll of the eyes and nodded. Rans swarmed forward and engulfed Bitty in his arms. He lifted him off the floor with the hug and... started walking.

“Rans?”

“It’s for the team’s _honor_ , Bitty!”

Bitty squeaked and tried to squirm his way out of Ransom’s arms as he walked to the front door.

“Justin Oluransi, you put me down right this second of so help me I will bake you into a pie!”

Ransom just chuckled and kept walking out the door.

“Honor, Bits!”

It was a few more seconds before Rans put Bitty down in the snow, alongside the rest of the team. The boys cheered when Bitty joined them, and Rans immediately handed over his jacket to Bitty. “I’m Canadian, bro. Take it.”

The poor frog frogs looked mildly terrified, but that probably had something to do with the smirk on Nursey’s face. Bitty zipped up Ransom’s too-big jacket before Chowder bounded up to him and swung an arm around his neck.

“So what’s the game plan?” Chowder asked, looking between Ransom and Holster.

Bitty laughed, because they were just pelting the house across the street with some snow. Chowder was great, but a game plan, really? Holster pulled a stick out of the bushes and started drawing and Rans started scoping out the house opposite them.

“Wait y’all are seriously using plays to have a snowball fight?” Bitty asked, leaning over to see an already far-too-detailed map being drawn in the snow.

“Bitty, the lacrosse bros are the worst, but they excel at throwing things. We need a plan if we want to beat them.” Nursey shrugged and went back to watching Holster draw.

“Ok men, here’s the plan. First line is Bitty-Ollie-Wicks. You’ll run across the street and each take a position on their douchey rounded driveway. Nursey and Dex will be in the trees in the yards next door--”

Bitty held up a hand, “Wait, we’re bothering the men’s soccer team and the women’s hockey team now too?”

“Nah bro, I already got permission, we’re good!” Rans waved his phone at Bitty, where Facebook was still open to the picture of the women’s hockey team captain. These boys were out of control.

“And Lardo will maintain her position in the tree over here, while Chowder guards the snowball stash. Holster and I will hide behind the cars parked on the street and lob snow at those losers while first line tries to stomp out all their snow balls and murder their snowman.”

He almost followed that except for... “Lardo?”

“Sup Bits!” Lardo waved from the soft v in the tree trunk where she was sitting and scrolling on her phone.

“Uhm...” Lardo never climbed the tree, it was too tall for her to get to an actual sitting place so she just lived on the Reading Room.

“Holtzy put me up here. I can’t get down though, so. You fools better not let those morons over here to ambush me.”

Rans nodded, and Holster pointed his stick at the frog frogs.

“Tiny baby frogs, you are in charge of lying flat on the Reading Room with a solid stash of ammunition. You will defend Chowder and Lardo at all costs. The only yelling that should be coming from that majestic rooftop should be a call that we are about to get ambushed, or that we have just won back our well-deserved and long-lost honor.”

Rans looked around with a stern look, “Got it?”

“No,” Bitty muttered.

But somehow, he found himself in the yard of the Lacrosse house ten minutes later, with snow down his back and smashed in his hair. He ducked away from one lacrosse bro and swiped a foot through one of their piles of snowballs, effectively taking out the last store of their ammunition.

“Carrot acquired!” Wicks screamed, and Bitty and Ollie bolted across the street after him. Upon realizing their snowman had been thoroughly dismantled and ransacked, the lacrosse team deflated. They had no ammunition, nothing to protect, and only a few members actually participating.

“HONOR!” Ransom and Holster yelled across the street, leaving Bitty, Ollie, and Wicks in a fit of giggles on the front porch. They were all freezing and shaking, but that stolen carrot seemed like a well-earned trophy and worth withstanding the icy weather.

“How have I missed this every year?” Bitty laughed, as Nursey slipped out of his tree faster than Dex and then raced him across the street. Holster slid over to their own tree and extracted Lardo with surprising grace, considering Holster had spent most of the snowball war slipping and sliding.

“You refused to go out in the snow. Ever.” Lardo smiled, walking over to ruffle some of the snow out of Bitty’s hair.

It was new and terrifying and uncomfortable and Bitty hadn’t seen any reason to give it a shot. Now he sort of regretted missing the previous two snowball wars like he regretted not saying anything to...

“Hey, clump together nerds, we’re taking a picture!” Lardo handed her phone to Holster, who dutifully took a group selfie that she fired off into the group chat immediately.

Before putting her phone away, Lardo slipped next to Bitty and wrapped an arm around him.

“One for the boys!”

Lardo was wearing a big puffy jacket and a look that would have been cool if not for the snow on her nose. Between the raised eyebrows and the pink-tipped nose, Bitty looked a little disheveled, and nearly groaned when he saw how much fluffy snow was woven throughout his hair. She sent it off immediately to Shitty and Jack before Rans and Holster herded everyone indoors.

Piping hot cider, cocoa, and coffee were quickly distributed once everyone had changed out of their battle clothes and into sweats and Samwell shirts. While Bitty flooded the living room with fresh mini pies and cookies, Lardo located all of the blankets and comforters in the Haus and practically buries the team in them. Everyone ended up tangled together, warm and content.

Going into this year, Bitty had been terrified that he would feel a constant sense of loss without Jack and Shitty. He was closest to them, and Lardo of course, but if he was learning anything this year, it was how to be happy with his life. He considered himself lucky as hell for the friends he had, and he would gladly storm a frat haus for any one of them, even the frog frogs.

Bitty’s butt vibrated against Chowder’s hip while they were all buried under blankets, so he had to squirm to retrieve his phone. Jack texted him, _Looks like you all are having fun._

Bitty smiled and typed out,  _We are!_

He paused and looked around at the team with a smile and snapped a quick picture of the pile of hockey players under too many blankets and sent it to Jack.

  
_Next time you come visit, I might even beat you in a snowball fight. I’m a changed man._


End file.
